For the television show, see Good Rockin' Tonite.

"Good Rocking Tonight" was originally a jump blues song released in 1947 by its writer, Roy Brown.[1] It was covered by Wynonie Harris in December that year, and released in February 1948. The song includes the memorable refrain, "Well I heard the news, there's good rocking tonight!"

Harris's version was far more wild, featuring black gospel style handclapping. This was reflected in the composition's success on the national R&B chart. Harris' record was a #1 hit and remained on the chart for half a year, while Brown's original version charted for just one week in 1948, and only after Harris' recording was a hit. (Brown's single re-entered the chart in 1949 for another two weeks, peaking at #11.) Ironically, Brown had first offered the song to Harris, who turned it down. Only after the Roy Brown record gained traction in New Orleans did Harris reconsider.

Harris had a reputation for carousing, and sometimes forgot lyrics. His Good Rockin' recording session largely followed Brown's original lyrics, but by the end, he replaced the last section with a series of raucous "hoy hoy hoy!" interjections, a commonly used expression in jump blues tunes of the time, going back to 1945's "The Honeydripper" by Joe Liggins.[citation needed]

The song is a primer of sorts on the popular black music of the era, making lyrical reference to Sweet Lorraine, Sioux City Sue, Sweet Georgia Brown, Caldonia, Elder Brown, Deacon Jones. All of these characters had figured prominently in previous hit songs.

While Brown missed out on the biggest hit version of his song, its success kicked off his own career, which included two #1 R&B hits. In 1949, he released Rockin' at Midnight, a sequel to Good Rocking Tonight, which might be thought of as "Good Rocking Tonight part II" because it included updates on the same characters as the original. It reached #2 on the R&B chart, where it remained for a month. Harris's version started a craze of using gospel style backbeats in blues and rhythm and blues records, and that craze led to rock and roll.

In 1954, Good Rockin' Tonight was the second Sun Records release by Elvis Presley, along with "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" on the flip side.[2][3] Presley and his bandmates hewed closer to the original Roy Brown version, but omitted the lyrics' by-then-dated roster of names in favor of a simpler, more energetic "We're gonna rock, rock, rock!" Described as "a flat-out rocker" country radio programmers blanched, and older audiences somewhat mystified. A live show broadcast from Houston dj Bill Collie's club documented that the crowd "barely responded" to the song. "Blue Moon of Kentucky", the uptempo version of the Bill Monroe classic, has "the fans go stark raving nuts with joy". Both sides of this second record featuring "Elvis Presley Scotty and Bill" "stiffed".."[4]

  • A Gene Summers cover version of "Good Rocking Tonight" was included on a French compilation album "The Big Beat Show" issued by Big Beat Records (BBR1000) in 1981.
  • Contraband, a all-star hard rock group recorded their version of the song for their debut self-titled album in 1991.

References

  1. ^ Nick Tosches, Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'n' Roll (Da Capo Press, 1996), 51.
  2. ^ http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/p/pres1000.htm
  3. ^ Gary Dowell, Isaiah Evans, James L. Halperin, Kim Jones, and Ivy Press, Heritage Music and Entertainment Dallas Signature Auction Catalog #634 (Heritage Capital Corporation, 2006), 167.
  4. ^ The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley's Band. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. pages 45,46. ISBN 1-55652-614-8
 This R&B/soul music song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 This rock song-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Rocking_Tonight"


Comments

No comments have been added.



Your name:

City:

Country:

Your comments:

Security check *
(Please enter the number into adjoining box)